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Nigerian ports’ potential under-utilised, says expert

A Maritime expert, Capt. Fola Ojutalayo on Tuesday said
Nigeria had yet to harness the potential of its ports due to some administrative
challenges.

Ojutalayo, a Senior Lecturer at the
Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology, Lagos, said this in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said that only 25 per cent of the capacity
of the maritime sector had been harnessed.

``It is very clear that the potentials
of Nigerian ports are grossly under-utilised. And I will say that in the
maritime sector, we have harnessed only about 25 per cent of our capacity.

``So, we still have like 75 per cent or let’s say
over 70 per cent to be harnessed.

``We have a lot of issues that need to
be critically looked into, which have been the challenges of port operations
and management in Nigeria.

``Among all the requirements in any
key sector of the nation, the first that needs to be addressed is the issue of
human capacity development.

``When you have the right people in
the right position then, you can then engineer them to do the right thing in
the right direction.

``That need to be by ensuring that we
train people in a tailor-made manner to meet the needs of the century as far as
port operations and management is concerned,’’ Ojutalayo said.

He said that bureaucracy, lack of political
will and administrative hiccups were part of the challenges militating against full
utilisation of the potential of the nation’s ports.

He called for a reduction in the number
of government agencies operating at the ports, adding that the operatives of
the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) were capable of handling most assignments.

Ojutalayo said human capital
development was important in addressing the challenges, adding that it was only
by developing human capital that strategic transport planning, which Nigeria
lacked, could be addressed.